Matthew Dowd: “The Hollywood equivalent of President Trump’s speech Tuesday night on immigration would be releasing a movie for the 12th time after it bombed at the box office a little over two months ago.”

“The president’s speech from the Oval Office provided no new information for this debate we are in over the government shutdown and border security, did not expand the audience who would be receptive to the president’s message and will not move a single swing voter in America or in Congress to the president’s position.”

“Other than all that, it went well.”

John Harris: “It is a good thing for Trump that he will presumably withhold a caustic Trump critique of his own performance: ‘low energy’ is one phrase that might come back in vogue. His eyes were squinty and his expression flat. The words, which often sounded more like a speechwriter’s than Trump’s own, were delivered with such slow and deliberate articulation that comic Seth MacFarlane tweeted that the 9-something-minute address ‘had the cadence of a Wheel of Fortune contestant solving the puzzle.’”

“The White House nerve center spearheading the erratic response to the government shutdown is run by an interim director and longtime conservative firebrand whose confirmation last year was nearly derailed because of his inflammatory comments about Muslims,” the Washington Post reports.

“With limited governing experience under his belt, Russell T. Vought took the helm of the Office of Management and Budget a little more than a week ago, after agencies began closing their doors.”

“In just a few days, he has used his perch to make several controversial decisions aimed at blunting the impact of the partial government shutdown — moves meant to buy President Trump more time to drag out the closure, which is on the verge of becoming the longest in U.S. history.”

“President Trump sought to go over the heads of Congress to enlist public support for his long-promised border wall on Tuesday night, raising the stakes of an ideological and political conflict that has left the doors of many federal agencies shuttered for 18 days,” the New York Times reports.

“Yet privately, Mr. Trump dismissed his own new strategy as pointless. In an off-the-record lunch with television anchors hours before the address, he made clear in blunt terms that he was not inclined to give the speech or go to Texas, but was talked into it by advisers.”

Said Trump: “It’s not going to change a damn thing, but I’m still doing it.”